The state was notified Dec. 19 that the USDA has approved Reynolds’ request to align allowable SUN Bucks purchases with Iowa’s new SNAP purchasing guidelines. Now able to set parameters for healthier purchases, the Big Kim Energy has jumped back on board with SUN Bucks — without yielding or folding on her original concerns.
Starting Thursday, Americans in five states — including Iowa — who get government help paying for groceries will see new restrictions on soda, candy and other foods they can buy with those benefits.
Service providers say delays in food assistance only highlighted larger issues of food access in Iowa and across the country.
The move comes less than a week after the end of a government shutdown that delayed the distribution of SNAP funds.
In March 2024, a report revealed that more than half of Latino immigrants were chronically homeless in Johnson County. Since then, living conditions and affordability have deteriorated further for Latino immigrants as families’ providers are arrested.
Iowa households that rely on food assistance will begin receiving their long-delayed November SNAP benefits after Congress ended the 43-day federal government shutdown, the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services announced Thursday.
Zach Wahls and Nathan Sage blast Senate Democratic leader over deal to end federal government shutdown without health care subsidy extension guarantees.
About 260,000 Iowans receive SNAP benefits to keep hunger at bay. In October, for the first time in SNAP’s history, the federal government decided that the government shutdown extended to the vital program.
Iowa U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson met with veterans in Cedar Rapids about efforts to end the record-long government shutdown, ensure SNAP and military pay, reform ACA subsidies, and preserve the Senate filibuster as a bipartisan “guardrail.”
A federal judge in Rhode Island ordered the Trump administration Thursday to find the money to fully fund SNAP benefits for November.
Under new federal guidance, only households receiving the maximum SNAP benefit will get half their usual amount. Most Iowa families will see far less, and some may receive nothing at all.
The funds will come from the Witwer Trust Grant Program, a private trust that provides funding annually for nonprofits serving Linn County residents.
Fast-food chain’s CEO warns that customers remain under economic pressure, which is a problem he sees continuing well into 2026.
Cedar Rapids City Council members later this month will vote on whether to direct $25,000 to an area food bank.
Iowa GOP Congerssman Randy Feenstra, newly in the 2026 Iowa governor’s race, toured a Cedar Rapids food pantry Tuesday as the federal shutdown halts food aid for thousands of Iowans. Feenstra praised local “neighbors helping neighbors,” defended his campaign rollout, and said he’ll debate his Republican rivals while urging Congress to reopen the government.
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